Yesteryear Fiction

Fall of Pantheons
By Jake A. Strife


I cause the end of gods. Not just one, but all. I become involved in a war, the finale of all wars. This is how it happens.

The world trembles and shakes like an earthquake once again. It is the usual thunderstorm for this time of year, or I should say that, but this time it is very different. The sky rips open and fire falls. People scream. Meteors of a great mass crash down as the rain pours like a jug flipped upside down.

I hear screams all around. I duck into an alley. Maybe the buildings will protect me. I hide behind a dumpster and fall to my knees and pray. I pray to God. I pray for help, for forgiveness; I pray for protection. But as I pray the meteors crash down toward me through the building to my left.

“What the hell is going on!?” I cry out and run away full-speed.

No answer comes as I dive behind another dumpster, evading the explosion of one of the gigantic fireballs.

Once again I pray. I grab the ankh I wear around my neck, and in my desperate mind I cry out for an Egyptian god to save me. I cry for Ra, the sun god, to pull away the clouds and flames and bring forth the sun and for a moment it appears as if the clouds begin to go away and sunlight breaks through in a beam, shining down toward me, but then a great wolf appears and the clouds close once again.

The great wolf has fur like fire itself, but it does not burn the same. Its glowing silvery eyes stare me down, and it howls ferociously. I look up at it, and I recognize it... yes I do. From a video game. But how can it be? This is the great god of wolves Fenrir from Norse mythology.

The great wolf growls at me and takes a step forward. I take a step back. It growls viciously.

“Okay! I’m sorry!” I plead, covering my face in terror.

Then I feel a nudge. I open my eyes and a great tongue slaps my face. I feel the sticky hot drool roll down the contours. I want to cry out how gross it is, but then when I look into the eyes of Fenrir, so close to me, just inches away I knew it would be suicide to insult the beast so.

“What do you want of me?” I ask tentatively.

“I want you,” It speaks in a hoarse and raspy voice, “To help me destroy the gods.”

“What!?” I cry out.

“I said, I want you to help me destroy the gods.”

“Why? How do you expect me to do that! Or why would I do that!”

“You pray, yet do not know who to whom you pray. You pray, yet you cower in fear and death chases you at your heels. I will not make you pray. I will help you, if you help me.”

“But why me? I don’t understand!”

“Do NOT question me!

“You can’t just think I will help you kill gods!” I yell, standing up to the face of death before me.

“This impeccable courage! This is why I choose you!” A smile crossing its canine-lips.

“But what have they done?”

“This is Ragnarok, child! This is the end! Not of man but of gods! ALL gods.”

“Take this weapon. Mjolnir. The hammer of Thor.”

I stare at the wolf incredulously,

“You’re serious?”

Excitement boils up within me. The chance to have a weapon in my hand--not to mention a weapon of intense power--of a god. The thought alone is intoxicating. But still, to kill the gods?

A hammer, in the flash of a meteoric explosion, spins to my feet. The wolf watches me as I kneel down and grab the haft. I lift it more easily than I thought I could have.

“Now on my back! We shall ascend to the celestias!” It cries out.
I climb aboard the huge god-beast, Mjolnir in one hand and holding onto the fur of Fenrir with my other. And with a howl Fenrir rockets toward the sky and the clouds tear apart and swirl around us in a myriad of colors, and then we appear on a battlefield.

“This is what the gods do.” Fenrir tells me.

I stare on in horror. Bodies; everywhere. Not just soldiers, but innocents--women and children! Elderly!

“Who are these people?” I whisper.

“They are the ones who fall when the gods wage war. Their bodies and souls end up here, but then they die here, where it is eternal war, and they cease to exist.”

“Fenrir! So at last you have come for me!” A booming voice rings out.

We turn and a mighty man stands before us, with a long white beard. I know not which god he is. But he wears armor and in his hand he holds a sword.

“Yes, WE have.” Fenrir roars, charging. In a flash the god dodges, and I swing Mjolnir where he once stood. He appears behind us and lightning strikes. Fenrir flies off unconscious. I tumble and slowly stand.

“So you will face me, mortal!? You join Fenrir in the destruction of all worlds?”

I look around. Fenrir isn’t moving.

I have never felt such fear in my life. I am frozen as he walks toward me.

“Fight.” A voice by my feet whispers, “Fight to save us all.” It is an elderly woman cradling a dead child.

I raise my hammer and swing. And he shatters. Light flashes and I am home once again.

“You’re courage. The courage of man, defies that of the gods.” I hear Fenrir in my head.

I look around. There is light. There is no more war. Peace.


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I'm Jake A. Strife an author of Young Adult Fiction, Sci-fi/Fantasy, Flash Fiction, Screenplays and video game-to-book adaptations. I live in Los Angeles, California and plan to keep on writing till the day my hands fall off!

The Ultimate Weapon
By Jake A. Strife


“Is that a coffin!?” Seth asked.

I smacked away his hand.

“Why do you have to be such an ass?” Seth asked, as we escorted the jewel-encrusted coffin down the hallway.

I stopped abruptly and held out my hand causing the four Buvarian workers to halt. Of course if most others stopped a Buvarian, the hulking humanoids would tear them in half. But not me. They knew my status in the hierarchy, and they knew to attack me would mean certain death.

“You should know better to speak to a superior like that,” I said with a scowl, “If I wasn’t your brother I would feed you to the Buvarians back there.”

At that I heard one of them chuckle and it sounded like the engine of a truck spitting to life.

“Sorry, Brent,” Seth said.

I lowered my hand and the pig-faced ogres began walking again. I waved them past. Seth and I stood by and watched as they went forward.

“What is so dangerous about that thing?” Seth asked, “It’s not like it would hurt me.”

I locked eyes with him and he stared at me with a stupid look splayed on his face.

“Idiot!” I snapped, “It will not only hurt you, it will kill you.”

His eyes widened.

“Do you think we’re guarding it on just a random whim of the council?” I said, grabbing him by the collar.

“No--but I---what’s inside that thing?” Seth asked growing scared.

Up ahead the Buvarians had stopped and one was looking back over its shoulder. If we dallied much longer would they realize the ruse we trying to pull? If that was the case then they would attack, and likely kill us both in moments.

“We have to go,” I said, “Come on.”

I marched forward and glared at the Buvarian who dared look back. He grunted and looked to the hallway ahead. Seth and I took up the lead once again and the soldiers followed.

I couldn’t help but wonder about the golden coffin myself. All the boss had told me is that it was dangerous and we needed to get it to the loading bay and note the council’s main laboratory. Getting it there would be no problem, but only if the Buvarians believed they were following the orders of council.

We continued on through the blue-gray hall. The only light came from small circular portals above. Outside the windows was only the blackness of space, but I knew we were getting closer to the center of the galaxy. And located there was the supermassive black hole that would end the lives of all the council members at once. We turned a corner and just a hundred specs away was the single working escape pod.

“Brent?” Seth asked from behind me.

I ignored him and kept walking.

“Brent!” Seth said, pleading clear in his now terrified voice.

Something was wrong. I slowly turned around. I laid eyes on the Shadowrian standing beside him, blade to his neck. The shadow humanoid locked gazes with me and I went for my blaster.

“Do not,” said the Shadowrian.

I froze. Poor Seth looked at me, so scared, so very horrified for his life. I glanced at the Buvarians who just stood, hunched over and holding the rails of our freight. They looked shaken, which was a stretch especially for the brutes. They feared the Shadowrian, one of the most dangerous breeds of assassins in the Milky Way.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I want your friends there,” he gestured at the Buvarians, “to put down the Prism-Shield and walk away.”

“And what about me, and my companion,” I asked, trying to stall and think of a way out of the situation.

“You are free to leave as well, just leave the Prism.”

“Brent,” Seth said, “Don’t do what he says.”

“I have to you idiot!” I snapped.

I looked to the Buvarians, nodded and said, “Oogruksh gan trassa.”

The pair looked at one another and shook their heads.

They were more afraid of the council, than the assassin. Big mistake. It looked like I had no choice. I looked at Seth and then at the Shadowrian.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“You would sacrifice your friend?” the assassin asked.

“No… just the objective of my mission.” I replied.

I burst into action, going straight for the coffin. As predicted the assassin let go of Seth and swiped at me with his Dragonite infused blade. I slid on my knees and the weapon cut right above my head, singing my hair. Clear of the attack, I smacked the coffin’s activation button and closed my eyes. The light was blinding, and even with my eyelids closed, I could see the scene the skeletal structures of all of the four of us, and the assassin’s heart core.

When the light cleared the Shadowrian was gone in a sizzle of smoke. Prism Light was his weakness, and that was the exact kind of weapon the Prism Shield was. The Buvarians drew their weapons. I had just activated the council’s sacred ark and they weren’t happy.

“Seth, run.” I called to him.

He took off and I followed, we barreled down the hall toward the escape pod. We dove inside and I hit the launch switch. The door slid shut and we blasted off. Seth looked at me, and I at him.

"What just happened?” Seth asked, panting and confused.

“We lost it. The most important weapon in our galaxy,” I said, and began cursing.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“We lost the ark of the covenant!” I snapped and watched the space castle shrink away from us into a small dot.

It was true the council would die by being sucked into oblivion, but with the Ark lost, who knew where it would end up and what it chaos it would one day cause. Who knew what world it would end up on if any, and how it would change things for them, forever.


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I'm Jake A. Strife an author of Young Adult Fiction, Sci-fi/Fantasy, Flash Fiction, Screenplays and video game-to-book adaptations. I live in Los Angeles, California and plan to keep on writing till the day my hands fall off!